Clowns Not Hosting

[Snaz]

I read a thread somewhere that said if you taped a photo of a clown hosting a nem to the side of the tank the clowns will see it and figure it out.

[Scavenger]

My perc never hosted at all until I introduced a yellow watchman to the tank. There wasn't a huge amount of agression, but definately some tension between the two. Since then, my perc started hosting in my frogspawn. My theory on that is the clowns use hosting as a defencive measure to keep safe from preditors. So if the clown is feeling non threatened and very safe in the tank, no need to host. Such as before the watchman/perc tiff. But let me repeat, that's my very unscientific and not well informed theory.

[noirsphynx]

I was told an interesting bit of info not long ago about clowns. If they're captive raised it can be very difficult to get them to host. This is due to the fact that they've probably never seen an anenome or anything similar. I have a pair of captive raised false percs and I have a large elegance & frogspawn but they haven't even given it a glance.

[a4twenty]

hosting is instinctive, i have seen many captive breed clown hosting almost instantly when added to a tank.

your biggest problem is your choice of hosts are not a natural choice for your species of clown. you don't want your clowns to be hosted by an LPS coral, the rubbing by the clowns will usually rip the coral apart on his skeleton.

natural hosts for A. percula are H. magnifica and S. gigantea, unfortunately two of the toughest to keep anemones. you may get lucky and they'll be hosted by another species but it could take some time or may not happen at all.

good luck

[phreezee]

I've had a pair of clowns host in a clam of all things! They would nestle in the small opening and sleep in it over night, and I'd find them there in the morning.

I've never had a perc in a nem.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

My clowns are hosting the side of my wavebox

They love the thing. Clean the heck out the one side and back and rarely leave it unless its to get food.

They used to host some hairy mushrooms but after the tank move, they went straight to the wavebox and have never left.

[my2rotties]

What clowns host a Seabae anemone? I had one prior to my tank crash and had two false percs hosting an open brain coral instead of the Seabae.

[High tide]

Originally Posted by a4twenty

hosting is instinctive, i have seen many captive breed clown hosting almost instantly when added to a tank.

your biggest problem is your choice of hosts are not a natural choice for your species of clown. you don't want your clowns to be hosted by an LPS coral, the rubbing by the clowns will usually rip the coral apart on his skeleton.

natural hosts for A. percula are H. magnifica and S. gigantea, unfortunately two of the toughest to keep anemones. you may get lucky and they'll be hosted by another species but it could take some time or may not happen at all.

good luck

I agree with this, not sure about the "usually" ripping LPS apart but, wild Perc's may only want their native host. Maybe posting a pic will work, it's worth a shot.

[zazzoo]

this method worked for me very well when i was breeding true percs.
turn the lights out.... have a small dim light or even a flash light so thats all they can see.... shine the light on the bta ... and you need to scare them into the bta..... will take a few tries... as soon as u see them go in or even go close to it ... kill the lights... and they will stay near it or even run in it .... ... will take a few times... but works very well... done this with lots of clowns

[Koresample]

my skunk clown hosted in my LTA after one day. The fact that i dropped food into the LTA probably helped. When i would feed it shrimp, the clown would try to steal the food away. After that he just stayed there and rarely went anywhere else.